System for supporting portable personal medical device

ABSTRACT

A garment for supporting a portable personal medical device such as an insulin pump may be provided with a double pocket. A first pocket may be sewn onto the garment at an esthetical desirable location on the garment. A second pocket may be configured to hold the device and may be positioned on the garment to be occluded from view behind the first pocket. An access port through the garment may be positioned on the garment to be occluded from view behind the first pocket and may be configured to permit passage of a connector from the device to a user of the device.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/289,543, filed on Dec. 23, 2009

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to portable personal medicaldevices and more particularly to a system for supporting such deviceswithin clothing of a user.

Modern medical practice may employ various portable personal devices tomonitor or maintain a person's state of health. For example, portabletransmitters or recorders may be used to continuously transmit or recorda patient's cardiac data or portable insulin pumps may be used tocontinuously maintain a proper level of insulin in a patient. Theseportable personal devices must be continuously carried by a patient andtherefore must be either attached to the body or to clothing worn by thepatient. An advantage of the portable nature of these devices is thatthe patient may use the device while continuing with ordinary day-to-dayactivity. In that regard, a patient may desire to conceal the deviceswhen in use.

It may be seen that there is a need for system that will permit aportable personal medical device to be conveniently and effectivelycarried by a patient while being concealed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect of the present invention, a garment for supporting aportable personal medical device may comprise an inner pocket configuredto hold the device, an access port through the garment configured topermit passage of a connector from the device to a user of the device,and an outer pocket overlying the inner pocket.

In another aspect of the present invention, a garment for supporting aportable personal medical device may comprise a first pocket sewn ontothe garment at an esthetical desirable location on the garment. A secondpocket may be configured to hold the device and may be positioned on thegarment to be occluded from view behind the first pocket. An access portthrough the garment may be positioned on the garment to be occluded fromview behind the first pocket. The access port may be configured topermit passage of a connector from the device to a user of the device.

In still another aspect of the invention, a method for using a portablepersonal medical device may comprise the steps of: placing a garmentwith an inner pocket and an outer pocket overlying the inner pocket on apatient; placing the device in the inner pocket; passing a connectorbetween the device and the patient through an access port in thegarment; and attaching the connector to the patient.

These and other features, aspects and advantages of the presentinvention will become better understood with reference to the followingdrawings, description and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view of a patient wearing a garment constructed inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view of a pocket assembly in accordance with an embodimentof the invention;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the pocket assembly of FIG. 2 taken alongline 3-3 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the pocket assembly of FIG. 2 inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following detailed description is of the best currently contemplatedmodes of carrying out exemplary embodiments of the invention. Thedescription is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merelyfor the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention,since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims.

Broadly, embodiments of the present invention generally provide articlesof clothing adapted to hold and support a portable personal medicaldevice on a patient in a concealed manner.

Referring now to the Figures, it may be seen a user 13 of a portablepersonal medical device 18 may wear a garment 12 with a pocket assembly10. The device 18 may be any one of numerous types of medical devices,e.g. an insulin pump, a cardiac monitor, a pump for chemotherapymedication and etc. For purposes of simplicity, the present invention isdescribed herein using an insulin pump as an example of the device 18.

The device 18 may be supported on the user 13 by the garment 12. Thegarment 12 may have an inner pocket 16 for holding the device 18. Theinner pocket 16 may be sewn onto the garment 12. An outer pocket 14 maybe sewn onto the garment 12 to overlie the inner pocket 16. An accessport 19 may be placed in the garment 12 in alignment with the innerpocket 16. In an exemplary embodiment the access port 19 may be a sewnbuttonhole.

Referring particularly to FIG. 3, it may be seen that the device 18 mayrest within the inner pocket 18. One or more connectors 20 may passthrough the access port 19 to provide appropriate attachment of thedevice 18 to the user 13. In the case of an insulin pump, the device 18may contain insulin and may administer the insulin, on an as-neededbasis, through the connector 20, which may be a tube connected to aninjection point (not shown) on the user 13.

The exterior pocket 14 may be larger than the inner pocket 16. Thus theinner pocket 16 and the access port 20 may be rendered occluded fromview of an observer looking at the user 13 when the garment 12 is wornby the user 13. The inner pocket 16 may be made small enough to hold thedevice 18 securely in place. In that regard, it may be seen that theinner pocket 16, if exposed to view, might be considered unusual orunfashionable.

The outer pocket 14 may hide the inner pocket 16 from view. Because theouter pocket 14 does not need to securely hold the device 18, it may bemade in any size. The pocket assembly 10 may be located at any point onthe garment 12 that may be consistent with desirable esthetics for thegarment. In other words, the user 13 would not be viewed as a wearer ofa unique medically-oriented garment when wearing the garment 12.Instead, the user 12 would appear to be wearing a garment that issimilar in appearance to any conventional garment that may have pocketsas part of its expected design features.

It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates toexemplary embodiments of the invention and that modifications may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as setforth in the following claims.

1. A garment for supporting a portable personal medical devicecomprising: an inner pocket configured to hold the device; an accessport through the garment configured to permit passage of a connectorfrom the device to a user of the device; and an outer pocket overlyingthe inner pocket.
 2. The garment of claim 1 wherein the outer pocket islarge enough to block visibility of the inner pocket from an observer ofthe user.
 3. The garment of claim 1 wherein the inner pocket is sewnonto the garment.
 4. The garment of claim 1 wherein the outer pocket issewn onto the garment.
 5. The garment of claim 1 wherein the access portis a sewn buttonhole.
 6. The garment of claim 1 wherein the inner pocketis sized to securely hold an insulin pump.
 7. A garment for supporting aportable personal medical device comprising: a first pocket sewn ontothe garment at an esthetical desirable location on the garment, a secondpocket configured to hold the device and positioned on the garment to beoccluded from view behind the first pocket; and an access port throughthe garment positioned on the garment to be occluded from view behindthe first pocket, the access port configured to permit passage of aconnector from the device to a user of the device.
 8. The garment ofclaim 7 wherein the access port comprises a sewn buttonhole.
 9. A methodfor using a portable personal medical device comprising the steps of:placing a garment with an inner pocket and an outer pocket overlying theinner pocket on a patient; placing the device in the inner pocket;passing a connector between the device and the patient through an accessport in the garment; and attaching the connector to the patient.
 10. Themethod of claim 9 further comprising the step of administering insulinfrom the device through the connector to the patient.